Impact of Assisted Reproductive Technology on Embryonic Health Screening Tests: A Case-Control
Study

Abstract

Background: More than one million children throughout the world are born by using fertility techniques.
In this process, human intervention and laboratory conditions may have an impact on the growth and
development of the fetus.
Objectives: This study aimed at considering the effect of assisted reproductive techniques on the results of
embryonic health screening tests.
Methods: In this case-control study, through the simple random sampling, 200 pregnant women who have
used assisted reproductive techniques as a case group, and 200 natural pregnant women as a control
group, were selected among clients referring to the Infertility Center of the Ome Leila hospital in Bandar
Abbas province. By using an interview with pregnant women and investigating the embryonic screening
tests, checklists were filled out and data analyzed by the SPSS version 21 and chi-square test.
Results: The majority of participating women in the study were housewives and had preliminary infertility.
The body mass index (BMI) of most of them was normal. There was no significant difference between the
final results of the embryonic screening test in the two groups at the first trimester (P> 0.05). However,
In the second trimester, there was a significant difference between them. The positive results were higher
in the case group in comparison with the control group (P= 0.001). The mean of all types of screening
tests in the first trimester in both groups was not different, significantly (P< 0.05) although in the second
trimester, the mean of all the tests including beta human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) (P= 0.006) and
alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) (P= 0.018) in both case and control groups, was significantly different. The mean
of β-hCG and AFP was higher in the case group, while the mean of Estradiol and Inhibin, NB, and NT did
not have any difference between them (P< 0.05).
Conclusion: Our study showed that embryonic screening tests, especially the β-hCG and AFP tests, would
be affected by applying assisted reproductive techniques. For couples who had a history of infertility and
used assisted reproductive methods, screening tests are essential in the first and second trimester.

Keywords: Pregnant women, Screening, Embryo, Infertility